Ficus Interfaith


Ficus Interfaith is an artistic duo based in New York City. Ficus Interfaith is a collaboration between Ryan Bush and Raphael Martinez Cohen. Bush and Martinez Cohen have been working together since 2013.
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Education

Bush and Martinez Cohen met at the Rhode Island School of Design where they both received BAs in painting.

Career

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Furniture Music, P·P·O·W Gallery, NY, 2025Chabudai, Chabudai, Numano Hashi, in Tokyo, Japan 2024Grand Central Treehouse, at Deli Gallery, NY, 2023Ficus Interfaith, Jack Chiles, New York, NY, 2019Frame House Whereabouts, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, NY, 2018Summer Terrazzos, Prairie, Chicago, IL, 2018Flower Bat Mullion, From The Desk of Lucy Bull, Los Angeles, CA, 2018Ficus Interfaith, Gern En Regalia, Ridgewood, NY, 2017

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • "Objects for a Heavenly Cave"- Marta, Los Angeles, CA, 2024
  • "Residual Energies" - Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, Fl 2024
  • "Los Angeles Bar" - "Second Pour," In Lieu, Los Angeles, 2024
  • Local Objects, International Objects, New York, NY, 2023
  • From Cellar to Garret, South Parade, London, 2020-2021
  • Theorem X, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, 2021
  • Red Root, Green Root, The Valley, Taos, New Mexico 2021
  • Dear John, Adams and Ollman, Portland, 2021
  • No Place, P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, 2020
  • In Practice: Total Disbelief, SculptureCenter, NY, 2020
  • Rubus Armeniacus, Jessica’s Apartment, New York, NY, 2019
  • Downturn, Sibling, Toronto, Canada, 2019
  • The Nourishment, From The Desk of Lucy Bull, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
  • RESET, Kai Matsumiya,'' New York, NY, 2019At the End of the Game You Will Be Forgotten, Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York, NY, 2018The Earth is a Trampled Garden, Brooklyn, NY, 2018Dangerous Together, Prairie, Chicago, IL, 2018Progress Beyond Reason, MX Gallery, New York, NY, 2017dccon1: narrabantur, U.S. Blues, Brooklyn, NY, 2016

Residencies

Salmon Creek Farm, Albion, CA 2024Numano Hashi, A Tokyo, Japan 2024Clay Club, Sculpture Center, Queens, NY, 2018Artists in Residence, Shadaken Projects: Storm King, New Windsor, NY, 2018Artists in Residence, 2727 California Street, Berkeley, CA, 2018

Style and technique

In the mid-2010s, Ficus Interfaith began working with terrazzo, a cementitious composite material, usually used in flooring. Ficus Interfaith's sculptures explore the creative possibilities of the terrazzo technique which is more commonly found in public or municipal spaces. In addition to their free standing and wall-mounted terrazzo sculptures, Ficus Interfaith make site-specific terrazzo installations. Ficus Interfaith use typical and atypical materials in their terrazzo including but not limited to peach stones, oyster shells, the royal blue glass of Saratoga Water bottles, petrified wood, marbles, pits, deer bones, and walnuts.
Since December 8, 2014, Ficus Interfaith has maintained a WordPress blog titled .
The name Ficus Interfaith comes from the "fig tree genus and the allure of spirituality."
Ficus Interfaith work out of a studio in Queens, NYC. For Bush and Martinez Cohen, the Ficus Interfaith entity functions as a third distinct voice. In a December 2023 interview with ARTnews, Ficus Interfaith stated "most of our pieces operate as paintings."
Ficus Interfaith's art is informed by their formal training in painting. Ficus Interfaith credit many inspirations including: craft objects, Rhizofiltration, SpongeBob, The Timeless Way of Building, Rockwell Kent, homosocial behavior, and Pinocchio.